Art-House America
The Walter Reade Theater at the Film Society of Lincoln Center is a beloved New York institution. We’ve created a short documentary on its history and programming, presented here with a lineup of films handpicked and introduced by its curators.
In this installment of our Spotlight series, critic and author Grady Hendrix examines the potent blend of emotional anguish and body horror that David Cronenberg tapped into for one of his most terrifying classics.
Video essayist :: kogonada reveals the troubling theme within this cult favorite.
Creative Marriages
Has any other couple exerted as potent an influence on the course of movie history as Jean-Luc Godard and Anna Karina? Before, during, and after their tumultuous marriage, this director and actor interwove their personal lives and their art in seven films that changed the face...
Adapted from Russell Banks’s novel about a small town reckoning with trauma in the wake of a tragic school-bus accident, Atom Egoyan’s THE SWEET HEREAFTER is a profound meditation on grief and loss that manages to find compassion and hope in the bleakest of circumstances. In this edition of Obser...
This video essay looks at TAMPOPO’s themes of self-improvement and mastery of a craft. It was created by filmmakers Tony Zhou and Taylor Ramos in 2017.
In the latest installment of our Spotlight series, critic Alicia Malone unpacks Ernst Lubitsch’s brilliant political satire, one of the most acclaimed comedies of all time.
In this interview recorded in 2016, the Oscar-winning director of MOONLIGHT and IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK explores the intoxicating cinema of Wong Kar Wai.
The leading scorer in NBA history traces his journey from basketball superstar to writer and cultural critic with filmmaker Philip Kaufman, in a conversation that touches on sports, jazz, and the moral stakes of samurai movies.
One of the most influential science-fiction films of the 1950s, FORBIDDEN PLANET shaped the evolution of the genre for decades to come with its groundbreaking production design, special effects, and electronic score. In this edition of Secrets of the Hollywood Archives, Oscar-winning visual-effec...
Reminiscences from John Huston’s regular script supervisor
In this video essay, filmmaker :: kogonada examines the use of doors in the films of Robert Bresson.
Meet the artist behind a variety of Criterion covers.
In this video essay, critic David Cairns explores the comedic magic of Charlie Chaplin and Jackie Coogan in THE KID.
One of the finest and most realistic war movies produced in 1940s Hollywood, TWELVE O’CLOCK HIGH portrays the harrowing experiences of a group of American flyers stationed in Britain during World War II. But how did the filmmakers achieve the exciting aerial shots of star Gregory Peck flying a B-...
In the latest installment of our Spotlight series, critic and novelist Grady Hendrix finds an unlikely favorite horror movie in David Lean’s adaptation of a Charles Dickens classic.
In the latest installment of our Spotlight series, critic Imogen Sara Smith pays tribute to the great Ukrainian filmmaker Larisa Shepitko, whose early feature WINGS brilliantly evokes a former fighter fighter pilot’s inner life.
The thinking man’s movie star, Ethan Hawke has moved seamlessly between mainstream hits and acclaimed passion projects for directors such as Richard Linklater and Paul Schrader ever since breaking into Hollywood at age fourteen, garnering Academy Award nominations for both acting and screenwritin...
In the following introduction recorded in 2022, Criterion curatorial director Ashley Clark explores the sly social critique and dizzying cinematic experimentation of writer-director-actor Wendell B. Harris Jr.’s lone feature to date, a sui generis masterpiece of American independent cinema.
This new conversation between critic and programmer Michael Koresky and Criterion web editor Andrew Chan, discussing the films in Queersighted: The Musical!, was recorded in 2022.
